


The Stolen Pearl

by RebelRen72



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: BoyxBoy, M/M, Royalty, Smut, Yaoi, jeongcheol - Freeform, meanie, mermaid, soonchan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-12 06:01:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10483770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelRen72/pseuds/RebelRen72
Summary: Jeonghan has lived his entire life under the waves of the sea. He often dreamed of life on land and what it would be like to meet the *glamorous* royal family.One day, a runaway boy stumbles upon the shore and finds Jeonghan on the sand. The mysterious boy's identity could get them both in grave danger, but they soon form a bond that is stronger than any distance between them.Jeonghan knows of a secret magic to turn himself human, but it comes at a great cost. Will it be worth it?





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
I didn’t ever think I could get sick of water, but: here I am. I am SO TIRED of being stuck in this water! I have lived in the sea my entire life; I was born here, I grew up here, I will spend my whole life wasting away beneath these waves. I live with both my parents and my 10 siblings. Yeah, I know. My parents are crazy, trying to raise 11 half-fish, over-excited, little creatures. I am the third youngest of all of us, and I would go through all of us, but there are so many and all the older ones are pretty irrelevant.   
Chan is the youngest, and he’s 4 years younger than me. Jun is next and he is only a year younger than me and 3 years older than Chan. The other 8 ‘swam’ off to live elsewhere or found life partners. So now, I’m the oldest at home and I’m the one that mainly takes care of “the babies”. Mom and dad are often busy and they’re not at home much. They work with other communities of our kind and they spend a lot of time travelling across the sea.   
My life is pretty simple: wake up, take care of the babies in the morning and get them off to school, clean the house, and then I usually have some time to myself. One of my favorite things in the world in sitting on the warm sand and singing old songs that my parents taught me. I sometimes let Jun and Chan skip school and sit with me. We can only sit out of water for so long before our lungs start to shrivel up and all that good stuff.   
Chan and I are extremely close and he relies on me for a lot. Sometimes, it’s a little burdensome especially when I have so much to do at home, but I would never turn him away. He doesn’t really get along well with mom and dad, they treat him like a baby when he really is becoming a young man. They don’t take him seriously and it makes me really sad to watch. I’ve tried standing up for him so many times, but our parents don’t listen to me much, either. So, I just take care of Chan and I make sure that I listen and help him grow into the adult that he will soon be.   
Jun, however, is a lot more closed off. I’ve tried multiple times to get him to open up, but he shuts me out every time. He’s a sweet kid, really, but he just doesn’t know how to express himself well and he has a gruff exterior. He doesn’t really get how to connect with other people, but we’re working on it. He used to have so many friends when he was younger and he was really close to our older brother, Kyuhyun, but when they all left for other places, he shut himself up and decided to keep to himself. It breaks my heart to see him like that, but I know he has to figure it out for himself.  
So, I guess the only one left is me. My name is Jeonghan, and I guess (following the pattern) I am 20 years old. I’m pretty different than my siblings; they all had a sense of pride that came from having gills and a tail that got them through life and on to adulthood. I would do anything to spend more time out of water. I’m basically just a swimming cliché, to be honest. I love the feeling of sun and sand, and being able to breathe air. But, of course, when I voiced this to my parents, they shrugged it off as me being a “silly teenager who will grow out of it in a few years”. Their dream is for me to marry some nice mermaid from another community and start a huge family like they did. But just the thought of that makes me want to gag. I’m rather ordinary, I don’t have many special gifts or talents. I was, however, the fastest swimmer in my year at school though. And I have been told that I can sing. But that’s enough about me. 

 

I sat on the sand and flipped my tail fin with a laugh. I had finally gotten the kids off to their school and finished my chores at home, so now I had some time to myself to sit on the beach and relax. I never really felt truly at peace until I was alone and out of water. I must be the only fish-like creature that is afraid of drowning. Like, I know I can swim, but still.  
The sun was hot and high in the sky, it made my eyes hurt so I kept them closed. I laid back on the beach and breathed in the fresh air that smelled of seaweed and saltwater. It was my favorite scent in the whole world, next to fried salmon. I hummed to myself quietly and pressed my body down into the sand, spreading my fingers and toes and feeling the coarseness between them. I listened to wave after wave crash on the beach and felt the tips of them touch the end of my tail gently. It almost tickled and I had to hold back girlish giggles.   
It honestly felt like mere moments, but suddenly the sun was sinking down into the horizon and I knew I needed to get home. Jun and Chan usually stayed after school with friends or just to be out of the house, but I really wanted to be there when they got home. I waited just a moment more when I heard yelling behind me. It was humans (obviously) and I started panicking. With my clumsy nature and my stiff tail, I didn’t know if I could get back in the water fast enough to not be seen. The yelling came closer and closer and I could hear rustling in the trees and bushes along the edge of the beach. I struggled forward on the sand, clawing at the grains to try and propel myself into the water. I kept glancing over my shoulder to make sure I was still in the clear.  
I had just reached the edge of the water when a figure broke onto the beach. It was a man, looking around wildly. He seemed to be panicking as well and he continued searching the beach for something, not that anything was really there. I breathed a sigh of relief, he hadn’t seen me. But I knew that if I lingered too long, he would. So, I continued crawling into the water until the liquid covered my body.   
But something about the man’s frantic nature had caught my attention and I wanted to make sure he would be okay, and I really wanted to know what (or who) he was running away from. I lifted my head just the tiniest bit so that my eyes could peek out over the surface of the water. There he was again: dark black hair and fancy clothes. I had never seen such expensive looking things in my life, so I knew he must be important.   
I then heard the yelling get louder and I saw the man start running for the water. Ah crap! He was running right at me. I wanted to keep watching but he would see me if I didn’t move. I swam back but stopped, waiting to see him enter the water.   
Everything was bubbles as he jumped into the water with a flourish. He was much closer to me than I thought he would be and I gasped loudly, water filling my mouth. I swam quickly backwards until I was far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to see me anymore, but with my special eyes, I could still see him. He looked so afraid, holding his breath and himself under the waves. He waited for a long while, staring up at the surface. The sight was breathtaking.  
He had been wearing a loose-fitting white shirt that was floating around his neck, showing off his bare torso (effectively making me blush brightly). His legs moved slowly back and forth through the water and his arms circled next to him on either side, keeping him under the water. I couldn’t help but stare, even though I knew it was foolish and dangerous. His eyes opened widely and I could tell something was wrong. I looked down at his feet and saw that he had tangled his legs in some sort of rope or plant that was holding him from being able to get air. I shook my head and began panicking again. He thrashed around in the water and kicked desperately to free himself. Not thinking straight, I swam forward until I was behind him, pausing a moment before moving down to his ankle. I pulled hard at the rope, knowing he could see me now, and worked as fast as I could. I didn’t look up at him as I knew he would probably be afraid of me.   
After a long period of time in which I thought he would surely drown, the rope snapped, broken. I quickly moved up, wrapped my arms around him, and pulled him to the surface. He didn’t struggle in my arms which was a surprise as I knew he must be very afraid. He gasped and coughed loudly as he broke the surface and I held onto him tight. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, so I watched in horror as he tried to remember how to breathe.   
It took him a long time to calm down and when he did, he finally realized that there was someone, something holding on to him. His face went white and he gasped. I let him go and backed up slowly.  
“W-what?” He whispered incredulously. “What are you?”  
I looked down in embarrassment and took a deep breath. “Are you okay now?” I purposely didn’t answer his question. He didn’t answer mine either. I looked up at him, concerned. He seemed to be conflicted on whether or not he should be afraid of me. So, we floated there for a long while, just staring at each other before I broke the silence. “I think those men, the ones who were chasing you are gone. Can you swim?”   
He said nothing but nodded ‘yes’. Seeing him move awkwardly, I took his hand and swam past him, pulling him along until we had reached the sand and he could touch the ocean floor.   
Neither of us spoke as he took steps onto the beach, but he stood to look at me for a long while. I felt myself blushing again and finally remembered that I needed to be home. I half-smiled and turned, flicking my tail above the waves and swimming off for home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
Finally, when I had reached the cove that my family calls home, I could breathe. Well, as much as you can “breathe” underwater. I ran a hand through my hair and tried to calm down.   
A human had seen me! Oh gods, if only my parents knew: they’d skin me in a heartbeat. Its incredibly dangerous for humans to see merpeople for a lot of reasons:  
1\. They think we’re weird and want to perform tests on us  
2\. They want to put us in tanks and show us off  
3\. They want our scales, and will kill us to get them  
OR  
4\. If they know anything about merpeople, they’ll know about our magic and want to exploit us for it  
All scary stuff really. Our lives are precious and there aren’t many of us, so the few that there are re very valuable. We keep balance in the ecosystem beneath the surface. We help other sea creatures and provide protection and healing spells on the parts of our homes that have been destroyed by humans or large predators. Many of the sea creatures don’t trust humans, but they trust us enough to help them. We have a very delicate balance of trust with the other living things in the ocean, and its one we would be very wise not to break.  
“Hannie hyung!” A voice shook me from my thoughts and I gasped loudly.  
“Chan! Y-you’re home!” I swam backwards a little in surprise. There in front of me floated my baby brother, Chan. He was adorable, but didn’t look much like me. He had dark, shorter hair and a dark green tail where as my hair is long and blonde and my tail is a light seafoam green. Trust me, I know: I sound exactly like a mermaid and I hear about it all the time. Jun used to tease me all the time and ask me when I was getting fitted for my shell bra.   
“Hyung, we’ve been looking all over for you. You’re usually home before us, so I was sure you weren’t still up on the beach.” He paused and finally took note of my expression. “Are you alright? You look pale and out of breath”  
“You just scared me is all, silly.” I made the excuse and then ruffled his short hair. I swam further past him into the cove and found Jun laying down on the long, flat rock he calls a bed.  
“When do you get home?” I asked him gently, knowing that I was too confrontational or too friendly, it would turn him off.   
“Chan was talking to a bunch of people outside of school,” he rolled his eyes, “so only just a couple minutes ago. Have fun up on your private beach?”  
His use of the word “private” made my eyes widen. Normally, my beach WAS private, no one else came there but me. I had never even seen anyone or anything else there. So, today was a shock.  
“Uh… yeah, it was fine.” I felt like telling him about the man, but knew he wouldn’t handle it well. He likes to think that he’s tough and already a grown man, but I know he scares easily, and I’m sure the thought of humans near our home would really set him off. “Try not to make a mess, yeah? I already cleaned today.” He threw me a glare but picked up the discarded tails of the shrimp he was eating.   
Now before you say it: YES it’s weird that we eat seafood. But it’s not like we can just walk up into the human world and grab a cheeseburger, you know? Plus, our stomachs are only made to digest seafood. So, we stick to eating small creatures that are low on the food chain anyways: Lobster, fish, crabs, shrimp, oysters and clams are our protein sources. Seaweed is eaten sometimes, but only when someone’s desperate as it doesn’t have much nutritional value and tastes like death.  
I swam over behind a rock and was finally in “my” room. Technically, it wasn’t really a room or mine, but I had claimed it when we moved here and it gave me some privacy from the rest of the cove. Jun had put up a fight that HE wanted the small secluded area, but neither I nor my parents would hear about it (Im pretty sure he still resents me for it).   
I rested back against a rock, taking a much-needed seat and closed my eyes. But as soon as they were shut, the image of the strange man came flooding back and filled my head. I gasped and my eyes snapped open again. Why could I not get him out of my head?   
Humans were not particularly special to us. They don’t do much. They can’t swim as fast as us or even hold their breath under water. Their eyes don’t work in water, especially not with the salt. They don’t have any remotely magical qualities. They do, however, have the one thing I’ve longed for my whole life: freedom. Well, legs and feet too, but mostly freedom. It was the thing that filled my day dreams constantly: what would it be like? To walk on earth, to feel things beneath my feet, FEET! I couldn’t even imagine what those would feel like. Would my legs be strong enough to hold my body up? I would probably fall all over the place, not used to walking.   
Suddenly, my mind was off the man I had seen on the beach and I was finally relaxing. I even gave in and let my eyes slip closed for a while, drifting in and out of sleep. It wasn’t for long that I had a break, eventually Chan and Jun needed something and they had no problem coming into my room unannounced.   
“Hyung! There’s something wrong outside!” Chan burst into the small, secluded part of the cove. My mind woke up slowly and I tried to comprehend what he had said. Something wrong? I gasped and my mind then started racing. Nothing was ever wrong! Except, of course, the time that the jellyfish outside the cove started going missing. But our parents had been around then, and they weren’t here now. I was in charge and had no idea what to do. But there was no time to panic and waste.  
“What is it, Chan?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady and calm. I got up from where I had been laying and swam out of my room and then out of the cove. My eyes were overwhelmed: fish and other creatures were swimming around frantically. Chan and Jun had followed me out of our living space and I turned to them, “What’s going on? What happened?”  
“Someone had said that there was a human nearby.” Jun said softly. “But there’s no way that’s true, obviously.” I thought I saw him roll his eyes and then I finally let panic set in. I had to think, fast.  
“Jun, take Chan back inside and stay there until I get back. Don’t come out for anything, do you understand?” I said sternly. They both nodded but were very confused. I didn’t have time to console them, so I pushed them back towards the cove and then swam off quickly for the beach.  
Since I was hurrying, it took no time to get to the shallower water. I raised my head above the water and looked up onto the beach quickly, I was so afraid. I saw nothing at first, but when I turned my head, there he was: the man I had seen earlier that afternoon. I didn’t know how to react at first, but I knew I didn’t have much time. I needed to protect my home and everyone around me.  
“Hello?!” I cried loudly, hoping my voice would carry over the crashing waves. It was low tide and the wash was small and quiet as the sun was teasing along the horizon. I called out again and again until finally it seemed that he had heard me. He looked around for a long time before he found me, waving my arms like a crazy person. He had seen me, but he didn’t move for a minute and it made my heart race. Should I wait for him? Should I swim away, back to the cove? I stayed, frozen in fear and possibilities.  
Suddenly he was running to me, pumping his arms and his hair flowing in the wind. My eyes went wide but once again, I did not move. It wasn’t long until I could make out his facial features and I could recognize him. I was instantly filled with relief that he was alone. He was breathing hard when he reached me, so I gave him a minute to catch his breath. He looked at me as if I had three heads and I assumed he had never seen someone, SOMETHING like me.  
“Hi…” I started awkwardly. I looked up at him and smiled to try and ease him even a little.  
“Hi—I don’t… I don’t know what to say…” His voice was smooth and deep, even though his words were not very articulate.  
“Sorry, you must be very weirded out and I’ve never met a human before, let alone one twice in the same day.” I rambled on until I realized that I was probably scaring him more. “Well, I’m Jeonghan, and I’m a merman…”

**Author's Note:**

> This is not my first ever fanfic but it is my first on this website. Please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions/ideas. Thanks for reading!


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